in the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan

[malificence]

Who: Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Black
Where: Castle Malfoy, Orkney Islands
When: December 6, 1980
What: Midwinter holidays away from the suspicious eyes of the deviant populace the line of fire their very demanding jobs at the Ministry.

He'd quietly hatched this plan a month before, when Rodolphus had decided to mark his birthday with the end of his engagement to Bellatrix - because, as faux as the relationship had been, it had offered a shield. For Rodolphus and Bella, a shield from parents who were determined to see their lines continued through their children. For Lucius, and really few would have even thought of the Black-Lestrange union offering anything to a young man outside that relationship, it had made it easy to explain away any closeness to either Rodolphus or Bellatrix as merely friendship. They were engaged, after all. Druella Black had been planning the wedding for a full decade, and no doubt had her eyes on Lucius for Andromeda, before she'd run off with the Mudblood.

With the engagement over, however, there was a pretense at distance required, and while neither he nor Bella would admit as much, that was a bit more...difficult than one would expect. He likes to blame it on the ritual they'd performed Samhain night, the one he'd picked to get his unruly visions in line, and it was true it had involved the sacrifice of three Mudblood girls and complex and intense magics. But truthfully, he and Bella are very close and have been since he'd returned from his little European tour. It's not only magic that has them wanting some time with each other. But they can pretend it is.

His expression is dry as he pins an elaborate malachite and silver pin to the inside of Bella's robe after she's locked the doors of her official house behind her. "Keeps the maledictions at bay," he tells her. "My grandmother was most fond of magical jewelry of this sort." And his grandfather had been secretive and reclusive in his latter years, after his Irish pureblooded witch had passed - hence the use of his late wife's jewelry as the keys to the castle, so to speak.

"Cornelius Clagg affirmed I am, apparently, no longer a suspect. I assume Elektra did the same with you, darling?" The whole thing was...well. Less ridiculous than it seemed, even if Clagg had thought his senior and Lucius' former classmate had been punishing him for something by making him interview Lucius, Amycus Carrow, and - and this was probably the worst of it - Rabastan Lestrange.

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[malificence]

Lucius is well aware of his family history. They publicly pretend otherwise, of course, but they know just how close they came to the seat of Muggle power and just how close they were always to that seat. Why do they have a castle in the northernmost reaches of the kingdom? Because before the statute, before the tides changed, a Malfoy had arrived on English shores as William of Normandy's best knight-wizard. Because when another English King had made his move on Scotland, another Malfoy had been part of the vanguard north. And thus, you have a palace in the most northernpart of Scotland.

It's not been a sign of Malfoy power for generations; beyond the Sacred Twenty-Eight, most don't even recall that they own it; the Manor has been their social center for a few hundred years.

His hand links with hers as they walk through the castle. There are, of course, elves in the depths of the palace, elves who know well enough to stay out of sight until called upon. "I've considered that." It's a disturbing thought, because a betrayer among their ranks? They all have positions of such power....in the Ministry, at Hogwarts. "There are a few I might suspect of playing both sides." Igor for his own purpose, young Barty Crouch because of his thirst for an actual battle. Both are names he's shared with their lord, and it's always hard to tell what Riddle might choose to do with a supposition like that.

[scinlac]

"Another possibility is someone who was passed over. The likelihood of one of the accused having something to hide is awfully high." For one, because the lot of them do. "Elektra ordered no searches, but among this much old blood she could have found plenty of highly illegal heirlooms." Of course, Elektra Burke, being old blood herself, knows very well that this is beyond likely, least of all because her family owns the shop through which most of these possessions have wandered at least once. She also knows that it would open a whole new barrel of flobberworms.

She is headed upwards – the general thought being a glance at the storm-ridden sea from the highest vantage point, but he could likely have guessed that. In fact, he very definitely knew this was going to happen. Where reasonable people have a fear of heights, Bella has a pathological need to climb up and look down, and he has spent enough time around her to have discovered that. "The sheer accuracy of the list has me thinking it unlikely, though. All the names I know of are names of people who have the Mark."

And yes, she keeps talking about work even as she traces the stone carvings by the stairwell. She can pretend that this isn't a more intimate occasion than a work lunch.

[malificence]

"There are a few who haven't proven themselves worthy." His cultivation of Peter Pettigrew hasn't gotten far enough to identify Lucius' other particular friends as members of a particular cohort - and the little party he'd thrown had hardly been attended by all the people who had been interviewed. Still, he thinks, if Pettigrew was smarter than he appeared and started having second thoughts, he might be able to come up with such a list. He might have even passed it along to one of his more rash friends.

They could have anonymously passed it to the auror who might be of blood both ancient and pure, but who has a rather unfortunate sense of justice.

But there's still the fact that there's no way Peter would have been able to construct a list of that razor sharp accuracy. It would either need to be a betrayer or someone with foreknowledge. A traitor or a deviant. He prefers, for obvious reasons, a deviant.

When they reach the top of the tallest turret and Bella goes straight for the window, Lucius wraps his arms around her waist and brushes his lips against her temple as they look down at the sea, dark gray and roiling beneath them. "Bellatrix," he murmurs.